"fanelights"

[Jonathan Lighter]

And you were safe from retribution (in theory) if you fibbed with your fingers, preferably of both hands, crossed behind your back.

  My recollection is that this never worked in practice.  Partly because any statement made with a hand behind your back was immediately suspect.

  JL

"Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Joel S. Berson"
Subject: Re: "fanelights"
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At 10/1/2006 11:26 AM, you wrote:
>In NYC in the '50s I sometimes heard "fins !" in precisely the
>general sense indicated in the 1870 quot. The fingers of each hand
>were crossed as an accompanying visual signal.

My faint and unreliable recollection too. Was the gesture sometimes
crossing the index finger of one hand over the other?

Joel

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